Albert Barnes Commentary Job 40:24

"Shall any take him when he is on the watch, Or pierce through his nose with a snare?" — Job 40:24 (ASV)

He takes it with his eyes — Margin, “Or, will any take him in his sight, or, bore his nose with a gin!” From this marginal reading it is evident that the translators were very perplexed with this passage. Commentators have also been very embarrassed regarding its meaning, and have differed greatly in their interpretation. Rosenmuller supposes that this is to be regarded as a question, and is to be rendered, “Will the hunter take him while he sees him?” — meaning that he could not be taken without some snare or guile. The same view is also adopted by Bochart, who says that the hippopotamus could be taken only by some secret snare or pitfall. The common mode of taking him, he says, was to excavate a place near where the river horse usually lay, and to cover it over with reeds and canes, so that he would fall into it unawares.

The meaning then is that the hunter could not approach him openly and secure him while he saw him, but that some secret plan must be adopted to take him. The meaning then is, “Can he be taken when he sees the hunter?”

His nose pierces through snares — Or rather, “When taken in snares, can anyone pierce his nose?” That is, Can the hunter even then pierce his nose so as to put in a ring or cord, and lead him wherever he pleases? This was the common method by which a wild animal was secured when taken (see the notes at Isaiah 37:29), but it is here said that this could not be done to this huge animal. He could not be subdued in this manner. He was a wild, untamed and fierce animal, that defied all the usual methods by which wild beasts were made captive. Regarding the difficulty of taking this animal, see the account of the method by which it is now done in the notes at Job 40:15. That account shows that there is a striking accuracy in the description.